Bernie Sanders:
Think about what happens AFTER we get rid of dictators

CLINTON: [In Syria, we should work with Russia to] turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad, & put the Assad future on the political & diplomatic track.

SANDERS: I have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton
on this. I worry that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a
terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for ISIS. Yes, we could get rid of Assad tomorrow, but that would create another political vacuum that would benefit ISIS. Getting rid of dictators is easy. But before you do that, you've got to think about
what happens the day after. We need to put together broad coalitions to [avoid having a] political vacuum filled by terrorists. In Syria the primary focus now must be on destroying ISIS and [it's a] secondary issue to get rid of Assad.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Bernie Sanders:
Not policeman of the world; focus on ISIS first

Hillary CLINTON: The reason we are in the mess we're in, that ISIS has the territory it has, is because of Assad. We now finally have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS. We finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world
together to go after a political transition in Syria. If the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. And we have to lead, if we're going to be successful.

SANDERS: Of course the United States must lead.
But the US is not the policeman of the world. The US must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and ISIS. ISIS, now, is the major priority.
Let's get rid of Assad later. Let's have a Democratic Syria. But the first task is to bring countries together to destroy ISIS.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Bernie Sanders:
I do not believe in unilateral action against terrorism

Our goal is to crush and destroy ISIS. I voted against the war in Iraq because I thought unilateral military action would not produce the results that were necessary and would lead to the kind of unraveling and instability that we saw in the Middle East.
I do not believe in unilateral American action. I believe in action in which we put together a strong coalition of forces, major powers and the Muslim nations. One of the heroes in the Middle East is King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Bernie Sanders:
Easy to overthrow a dictator but hard to control aftermath

Where we have a disagreement is that if you look at regime changes, you go back to Mossaddegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
It is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Hillary Clinton:
If the US does not lead, there is a vacuum

Q: What's your proposal for what comes after Assad?

O'MALLEY: I believe that we need to focus on destroying ISIL. But we shouldn't be the ones declaring that Assad must go. Where did it ever say in the Constitution, that it's the job of the U.S. to
determine when dictators have to go?

CLINTON: Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that ISIS has the territory it has, is because of Assad. We now finally have a strategy and a commitment to go
after ISIS. And we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. If the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. And we have to lead, if
we're going to be successful.

SANDERS: Of course the United States must lead. But the US is not the policeman of the world. The US must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Martin O`Malley:
Leave Cold War mentality to the older generation

May I offer a different generation's perspective on this? During the Cold War, we got into a bad habit of always looking to see who was wearing the jersey of the communists, and who was wearing the U.S. jersey. We got into a bad habit of creating big
bureaucracies, old methodologies, to undermine regimes that were not friendly to the United States. Look what we did in Iran with Mosaddegh. And look at the results that we're still dealing with because of that. I would suggest to you that we need to
leave the Cold War behind us, and we need to put together new alliances and new approaches to dealing with this. I know Secretary Clinton was gleeful when Gadhafi was torn apart. And the world, no doubt is a better place without him. But look, we didn't
know what was happening next. And we fell into the same trap with Assad, as if it's our job to say, "Assad must go." We have a role to play in this world. But we need to leave the Cold War and that sort of antiquated thinking behind.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Martin O`Malley:
Make USAID a cabinet agency, to get more intel

We have invested nowhere near what we should be investing in human intelligence on the ground. I'm talking about diplomatic intelligence. We do our military a disservice when we don't greatly dial up the investment that we are making in diplomacy and
humint [human intelligence]. As president, I would make the administrator of USAID an actual cabinet member. We have to act in a much more whole of government approach.

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H.
Dec 19, 2015

Kelly Ayotte:
There are still terrorists who want to kill us

When it comes to our national security, I have a fundamental disagreement with the Administration right now. They are failing to stand with our allies and they are trying to appease our enemies. It is the wrong policy. I don't think we should ever
apologize for the United States of America.

When it comes to foreign policy, we need to stand up for democracy and freedom. When the people of Iran were protesting in the streets, we should have said "We are with you. We believe in democracy and freedo
and we know that all you want is the freedom that we have."

This president and this administration have a very different tack when it comes to national security. I'm going to ask the hard questions when it comes to terrorists. There are still terrorist
who want to kill us. Unfortunately, there are enemies of our country; it's not a manmade disaster. We need to be in a position where we can protect against terrorist attacks, and make sure we have the best information to prevent future attacks.